Expressing life through endless creativity in words and pictures

Menu

Tag Archives: Birthday

Today I have three cards to share with you that I created to send to my friends and family. Fortuitously these designs also coincide with some challenges that I wanted to join. The cards are for a friend who has just moved into her new house, another is a birthday card for one of my family and the last one is to wish one of my special friends a very Happy Christmas!

Home Sweet Home

I used 6×4” white card stock and applied Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean Distress Ink to a large acrylic block and spritzed it with water. Then I laid the card facedown on the top of the block and pressed down so that the ink transferred onto the card. I did this a couple of times to use up the ink on the block until I was happy with the coverage. I dried the ink using a heat gun and then stamped the birdcage stamp by Dovecrafts using black Archival Ink. I surrounded this image with the pretty tree branches from a new stamp set by Inkadinkado using the same black Archival Ink; I love these stamps, the tree branch designs are beautiful! Next I stamped the “Home Sweet Home” sentiment using the same black ink and a Bellissima alphabet stamp set by Docrafts Papermania. I edged the front of a white blank greetings card with the black Archival Ink and a blending tool and then I cut the Home Sweet Home design to size. I edged it with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and stuck it on the top using double-sided tape. To finish, I used a black Derwent Graphik marker to emphasise some of the stamping so it stood out more and also added some blue circular gems for a bit of sparkle.

I’m pleased to join the “Home Sweet Home” challenge over at Try it on Tuesday which inspired the sentiment on this card.

I’m also pleased to join a new challenge today thanks to the lovely Avril who is on the design team over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges as my card also links to their “Nature” challenge.

This fun card is created using a 6×6” green card base. Firstly I cut a piece of striped paper to size and then I stamped the sentiment using black Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set by Hampton Art. As you can see I bunched up the word “Birthday” so it looked like it was being pushed out-of-place by the skateboard. I stuck it into place using double-sided tape. Next I added the monkey and star-like flowers which are foam stickers and also some glossy dots and tiny flowers designer vinyl stickers from Craftime. To finish, I used black and white Uni Posca paint pens to add small dots to the background and sentiment.

I wanted to join the lovely Chris from Pearshapedcrafting and her wonderful “101 Ways to Keep Warm” challenge over at Art Journal Journey; I think skateboarding would be a good way to keep warm especially for me as I’d probably be laughing so much whilst I was trying to do it (grin!).

I was inspired to create this card after creating my Winter Wonderland Decorations. This is a one layer card, so I started by masking off the top edge of a white 6×4” card and stamping some different stamps using Emboss ink; the stamps included a “Wishing you the best Christmas ever!” sentiment and a snowflake stamp, both by Clear Impressions, and also Diamond Background and Serpentine Background stamps, both by Art Impressions. I completed the embossing in layers, starting with the sentiment and then using the other stamps. Each layer of Emboss ink stamping was covered with white Stampendous embossing powder and then I shook off the excess powder onto a piece of scrap paper. I also tapped the card to make sure any stray powder was removed and then I used a heat gun to melt the embossing powder. I swept the gun over the stamped images, taking care not to direct the heat in one area for too long until the embossing powder changed to a glossy finish becoming smooth and dimensional. I repeated this process a few times to create a design that I was happy with. I then applied Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks to the card using a blending tool, starting with the darker colour of Chipped Sapphire around the edge and blending to the lighter colour of Cracked Pistachio in the middle. I dried the ink with my heat gun and spritzed water over the top, blotting it with a piece of kitchen towel/paper to remove some of the ink. I also diluted the three Distress Inks by stamping the ink pads onto an acrylic block and spritzing with water, and then I flicked the inks onto the card using a paintbrush and used a heat gun to dry them. To finish, I added some white rhinestone flower gems and dots of silver Stickles to add some glitter and sparkle.

I’m pleased to be able to join the “One Layer Christmas Cards” challenge over at Stamping Sensations with my white embossed stamped card.

As I used the glittery gems and Sparkles on this card, I’m also pleased to be joining the “Glitter” challenge over at Allsorts Challenge Blog.

Family, home and Christmas all mean so much to me, so I thought I’d share some photos relating to all three of these things (grin!). As we live by the sea we don’t often get snow, however we did get a light dusting of snow one evening last year. It was beautiful seeing the snow falling although it had disappeared the next morning when we awoke.

This photo is very dear to me, it’s of a white Christmas from my childhood, yes the little girl at the front eating sweets is me (grin!). I’m with my mum and my sister and you can see our Christmas tree in the background too. I will forever remember that furry navy blue and red checked coat that I’m wearing as my mum made it for me!

This picture of me was taken some years ago, when we had light snow fall on Christmas Day. We were staying with family and we went for a lovely woodland walk!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Having visited Liverpool recently for my hubby’s birthday, I was inspired by the beautiful patina of the bronze statues that can be found around the city. The most famous statues of this sort, and also my favourite, are the Liver Birds which sit atop the Royal Liver Building along the riverfront of the Mersey. I created a patina effect heart as part of my design and also used a quote from one of my favourite poets, I hope you like it!

I started this page by crumpling up a piece of white tissue paper a number of times to create creases in it, then covering my page with glue using a UHU Stic I stuck the tissue paper on top whilst trying to retain the creased texture. When the glue had dried I added Milled Lavender, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feather and Black Soot Distress Inks using a blending tool. Then I applied the same Distress Ink colours to an acrylic block and dragged it across the page which coloured the peaks of the tissue paper creases with intense colour; I love how this highlighted the texture. Next I stencilled Pébéo modelling paste around the outside edge of the page using a patterned stencil from Craft Sensations. I also applied some white gesso with a palette knife around the edges of the page and heated it with a heat gun so it bubbled to add more texture. Once the modelling paste had dried, I dripped on some diluted Peacock Feather Distress Ink drying it with the heat gun again. Then I applied Midnight Sparkle and Silver Grey metallic lustre around the edge of the page with my finger, which highlighted the beautiful texture from the gesso and modelling paste and darkened the edges of the page. I then added the gold flowers and circles which are peel-off stickers. To create the small hearts I covered white paper with gold leaf using Annie Sloan Gold Size and used a heart paper punch by Tonic Studios to cut them out and coloured them with the Peacock Feather Distress Ink. I then drew around the heart shapes on the background where they were to be positioned with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker smudging it with my finger and finally I stuck down the hearts using a UHU Stic.

To make the patina heart, I used a heart-shaped gift tag and covered it with modelling paste using the same Craft Sensations stencil. One dry I applied the same four colours of Distress Inks that I had used on the background and some gold leaf using the Annie Sloan gold size. Then I covered the heart with a thin layer of DecoArt Media crackle glaze and once it was dry I applied some diluted ink from a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker wiping off the excess with a baby wipe to highlight the crackle. To add more shine, I applied more gold leaf around the edges of the heart. For the quote, I used paper from a Design Pad by Craft Sensations and stamped the words using black Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set by Dovecraft. I edged the paper with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush maker and some gold online stickers, and then I stuck it to the page using double-sided tape; this finished the page.

Have you heard of Atticus before? He is quite a new phenomenon and is very well known on Instagram for his poetry. He is a young writer from Canada and it’s hard to find out much about him as he is quite mysterious and prefers to stay anonymous. He wrote a book of poetry called “Love her Wild” which is amazing and you can find more of his work on his website, Facebook and/or Instagram sites.

The Royal Liver Building is home to two fabled Liver Birds, one watching over the city and the other out to sea. Legend has it that if these two birds were to fly away then the city would cease to exist. “Liver” in this case is pronounced “live” as in “alive” and “er” – “live-er”.

This building is privately owned, so we popped into the reception area to take a peek and we discovered the most amazing marble entrance hall (grin!).

Here’s my hubby’s birthday treat, at Rococo café which you may remember from a previous post of mine. My hubby had a Malteser (malt ball) slice and I had lemon cake with our green tea and also cucumber or mint/lemon infused water – delicious! We also had a sandwich, but had eaten it before we remembered to take pictures!

As T Stands for Tuesday – I’m saying a big hello and welcome to the T Gang and wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

This black cat was adorning the window at the café – Happy Halloween!

I’m posting my page a little earlier than usual so I can join in the weekend fun with Yvonne from Meggy’s Way. You can enter any project to win some fabulous napkins and Yvonne is very kindly providing us with this wonderful Halloween treat!

I had fun creating this page and it is a great reminder of a lovely area of pools and fountains we discovered in Liverpool last week. We were there for my hubby’s birthday and this space was a welcome respite and such a peaceful and relaxing place that you could easily contemplate life from there. It had a beautiful lunar pool and a row of nozzle water fountains, so I got creative and created my page of contemplation. The design is also inspired by some blog challenges with its circles, glass and blue monochrome palette.

For the background I chose pages from an old Pear’s Cyclopaedia which detailed information about the universe and planets to match the lunar pool that we saw; I stuck these pages down using a UHU Stic. To depict the water I chose blue colours for this page and also circular patterns, so I stencilled a circle mask by Dutch Doobadoo using Chipped Sapphire and also Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink with a blending tool. To soften some of these colours I spritzed the page with water and dabbed the ink with a piece of kitchen towel. Next I added strips of a blue dotted paper washi tape from The Works, ripping the edges so it faded into the background more. Then I stencilled the large circles using the same Dutch Doobadoo mask and coloured their centres with Aqua Dolce, Snow Cone and Boysenberry Faber-Castell Gelatos smudging the colour with my finger which I wet with a baby wipe to make it easier to blend.

I wanted to add lots of dimension to these large circles so I started by defining the edges of them using the Dutch Doobadoo mask again to apply some modelling paste. When the paste had dried, I painted it with white DecoArt arcylic paint so the circles stood out more and then covered them with glossy accents. While the glossy accents was still wet, I added white, dark blue and light blue glass beads into the gaps of the circle design to add more interest. I also covered the whole of the dark blue circles with glossy accents so they had a lovely shine; I think they look a bit like glass. I covered the background where I planned to place each of the quotes with a thin layer of white gesso using my finger and once dry, I added the three quotes which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. These quotes seem to be perfect for contemplation:

“Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing” – Confucius

“Seeing yourself as you want to be is the key to personal growth” – Anonymous

“Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself” – Plato

I added some lines around the quotes with an old gift card using Teal and Navy Spectrum Aqua markers so they stood out more. I arranged some pretty blue mini gel stickers on the page with some small white flowers substituting the gem centres for blue gemstones to match my blue monochrome theme. To finish, I coloured some of the paper washi tape and also edged the page using a Navy Spectrum Aqua marker, smudging the ink with my finger.

This tranquil space can be found at Chavasse Park, across the road from Albert Dock next to the Liverpool One Shopping Centre. It’s a beautiful sight with the water, mature trees and grasses. The open pools take on a rippled effect that simulates the water of the nearby docks and the lunar pool remains still, reflecting the surrounding urban environment during the day and the sky at night; it symbolises the impact of the moon’s cycle on the tides.

These nozzle fountains display a wave pattern that emulates the ebb and flow of the tides.

Here I am behind the nozzle fountains trying not to get wet while hubby takes my photo (grin!).

Challenges

My contemplation page with the positive quotes is perfect for the “Landscapes of the Soul” challenge over at Art Journal Journey so I’m pleased to be able to join Elke from Meerwolkenleben who is hosting this month’s challenge.

All the circles on my page ties in nicely with the “Circles” challenge over at Try it on Tuesday.

I also chose my favourite colour, blue, as it seemed appropriate for the water and stayed true to this colour so I could join the “Monochrome” challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

With the glass beads and glass like effect I created with the Glossy Accents, I’m also joining in the fun over at Mixed Media World and their “Anything Mixed Media Goes with a Twist (Use or Imitate Glass)

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

I hope you’re all enjoying this month’s theme “Poetry in Motion” over at Art Journal Journey. Today I have created a steampunk page using leftover materials from previous projects to depict “Dream, hope, believe … and the possibilities are endless”.

I started by applying the inks onto the page, which were leftover from a 21st birthday card that I had made; this involved dripping the remaining diluted blue Distress Ink from an acrylic block onto the page and letting it dry, then applying the leftover black Distress Ink that was on my blending tool using a Viva Décor stencil that I had also used for the card. As you can see, I moved the stencil around the page to produce a lovely shaded effect as the leftover ink was gradually used up. I then added leftover letters from a set of rub-on transfers by Letraset to give a grunge look to the page. Next I stamped three frames, some postal marks and texture stamps by The Works and a key image by Royal & Langnickel using black Archival Ink. To start my sentiment I added the words “dream; hope; believe” which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. I stamped the rest of the sentiment onto a piece of white tissue paper using black Archival Ink and stuck it onto the tag using a UHU Stic. The tag was also leftover from a previous project; I had stamped a Kaisercraft Script stamp using black Archival Ink over the whole tag, edged it with Tea Dye Distress Ink, drawn a stitched look border using a black Uni Pin marker and tied on some paper twine which I distressed using the same Tea Dye ink. I also stamped the texture and key stamps onto the tag so it matched the page background. I outlined the edges of the tissue paper and the letters on the tag with a white Uniball gel pen and stuck it to the page using double-sided foam tape. Then I used the Royal & Langnickel rub-on transfers again to add the “dream; hope; believe” definitions around the sides of the page.To finish, I sourced three postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood stamp collection that tied into the steampunk feel. They are all from Great Britain and I placed them inside the stamped frames using double-sided foam tape.

Here’s the 21st Birthday card that I made for one of my godsons, like my page it has a steampunk feel to it. I find like many of my projects that I had some bits and pieces left over, so I was inspired to create a page from leftovers to demonstrate that the possibilities are endless!

I hope you also think that the possibilities are endless for this month’s theme “Poetry in Motion” over at Art Journal Journey. I’m so looking forward to visiting you and seeing your creations. Thanks for joining me today!

If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

This page was inspired by my friend’s silver necklace which originally belonged to her mother; she calls it “Fred & Ginge”. I thought the outline of the dancers would be perfect as a centre piece for my journal page and it would be a lovely tribute to these iconic dance partners.

As my friend’s necklace is silver, I started by applying silver metallic acrylic paint to the page with a brayer and leaving it to dry. I then added black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker ink by applying it to an acrylic block, spritzing it with water and pressing it on. Next I stamped a Script stamp by Kaisercraft using black Archival Ink. For the roses I used a stencil by Craft Sensations and Liquitex red acrylic paint which I applied using a baby wipe. To shade the rose petals and add texture I then added some Black Soot Distress Ink to the roses using a blending tool and I stippled more red paint over the top using a paint brush. I removed the stencil and added further detail to the rose outlines using a black Uni Pin marker and a white gel pen. I also applied the same Black Soot ink using a blending tool to the grey areas of the page, where there were no roses, to darken the background and emphasis the metallic paint. I flicked some water over this ink and blotted it with a piece of kitchen towel to create light coloured splatters. Then I used a Shabby Harlequin stencil by Creative Expressions and the Black Soot ink as well as a Musicality stamp by Docrafts and black Archival Ink to add more detail to the background. I took a photo of my friend’s necklace, and printed a large image to use as a template to draw around onto music paper, which I cut out, edged with the black Big Brush marker and stuck to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once the medium had dried I outlined the silhouettes using a black Uni Pin marker to add some shadow. I added three silver music notes using silver brads and lots of different sized crystals to add a touch of glamour. The larger crystals were linked together on a wire thread so I cut them individually, created swirls with the wire, stuck them to the page using Glossy Accents and placed a smaller crystal on the end of the wire to give a neat finish.

I have always loved musicals and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were both incredible dancers who had natural style and grace. If you are interested, here are some fun facts:

Between 1933 and 1949, Astaire and Rogers appeared in 10 films together.

Their first screen pairing occurred in 1933 in the musical film “Flying Down to Rio”.

“The Barkleys of Broadway”(1949) was their only film shot in Technicolor; it was their last film and was shot after a 10 year hiatus.

The pair had an on-screen chemistry so magical that Rogers became Astaire’s most famous dance partner.

Their films followed a set formula where Astaire specified how many minutes could elapse between the beginning of the film and its first musical number, as well as how many minutes of comedy, romance, and drama there should be between dance numbers.

As T Stands for Tuesday, I think cocktails would be an appropriate drink for this famous duo and when “stepping out with my baby” for my birthday we enjoyed a few cocktails with our friends! Maybe you would like an Apple Caipirinha or Cosmopolitan or a bottle of Italian beer or a glass of Prosecco. I’m inviting the T Gang to join us and wishing you all a Happy T Day!

Or a Mint Julep (to make this cocktail muddle 2 parts Bourbon whiskey, 12 mint leaves and ½ dash Gomme syrup with crushed ice and top with soda) or a Citrus Rum Cooler (1½ parts Havana Club Rum, ¼ part Cointreau/orange liqueur and 4 parts orange juice shaken with ice and poured into a glass).

Or even a Big Easy (1½ parts Southern Comfort, ¼ Cointreau/orange liqueur and 2 parts orange juice shaken with ice, strained into a glass over ice and topped up with Ginger Beer). Of course if you prefer soft drinks, tea and coffee are available too. By the way all these cocktails were actually half price so we got to try a few different ones between us – cheers!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

Recently we discovered a new tea and coffee house called The Blackbird, it is a lovely setting with pretty birdcages hanging from the ceiling, quotes and sayings adorning the walls, along with different merchandise made by local crafters decorating the room. The place was so uplifting that I created this page adding the words “I believe I can fly”.

I started by stenciling Mustard Seed, Mermaid Lagoon, Cracked Pistachio and Black Soot Distress Inks through a Dutch Mask by Dutch Doobadoo using a blending tool, outlining some of the shapes with a black Uni Pin fine line marker to give more definition and interest. To tie into the blackbird theme and birdcages that we saw in the café, I fussy cut the bird and also the birdcages from a gift bag that someone had given me. I then stenciled the fussy cut birdcages using the same background mask and Distress Inks so when they were stuck to the page it looked like you could see through them. I also added some gold acrylic paint to the cages so they were a slightly different tone to the background. I coloured the bird and birdcage details with a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and the same black Uni Pin to make them stand out more. They are stuck to the page using Matte Gel Medium and the birdcages are hanging from border stickers by Sandylion. The flowers are felt pads which I fussy cut to create the different pieces and adhered using a UHU Glue Pen. I stamped black dots using black Archival Ink and then I stuck a flower rhinestone in the middle of each one. As there were quotes and sayings around the cafe, I thought I would add one to my page as well. The wording is rub-on transfers, except “FLY” which is stamped using the same Archival Ink and an alphabet stamp set from Papermania. I added some word border stickers from the same set by Sandylion, these remind me of the time we had at the café. To finish I added shadows around some of the elements using a Slate Spectrum Aqua marker.

My page includes a quote so I am just in time to join Try it on Tuesday again for their challenge “Add a Quote” and as we went on a “Magical Mystery Tour” and discovered this new café, I’m also pleased to be able to join Hazel over at Art Journal Journey.

The inside of the café is so welcoming, I loved reading all the sayings on the wall art and looking at the beautiful birdcages.

They also have lovely craft pieces for sale that have been made locally, my favourite were these gorgeous Birdies especially Hector (top shelf second from the right). I’ve been looking online and it looks like I can buy the materials to make my very own Hector (grin!). Which little Birdie do you like best?

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m joining the T Gang with my pot of green tea, chicken and sweetcorn sandwich and the most amazing salted caramel cake ever – yum!

There were other delicious looking cakes to choose from …

… as well as this selection of teas and coffees to suit all tastes.

Wishing you all a very Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

As a special birthday treat we went to Coco’s Soul Food which is a restaurant in Preston that sells the most amazing Mexican, Caribbean, Cajun and Mediterranean food. Inspired by the colourful beach cabana style interior and the wonderful food I created this page.

I mixed up Liquitex Acrylic paints to produce the orange and blue green paints which I first applied with a baby wipe randomly on the page. Then I applied these paints with a sponge using a brick and also a wood design stencil by Creative Sensations. These colours and textures represent the blue green wooden panels of the interior and the orange brickwork from their menu, the orange also reminds me of the colourful and yummy sweet mango, chilli and lime sauce that I had on my salad too. I fussy cut the palm trees from an old magazine, which took a while, then I stuck them to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once the medium had dried I used a black Uni Pin marker to add more details and definition to the palm fronds and trunks. I printed the logo and image from the front cover of their menu and I fussy cut them out. I stuck the image down using a UHU Stic and the same matte gel medium along the edges, and then I enhanced the detail using a black Uni Pin marker and a white UniBall gel pen. Next I applied the glittery flower shapes which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. I stuck the logo to a piece of card and edged it with a black Sharpie permanent marker, then I outlined the wording and dots with a black Derwent Graphik marker and adhered it using double-sided foam tape. To finish I added four postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood collection from Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Greece; they represent the Mexican and Caribbean dishes that we had, the buildings on their menu cover which look similar to those on the Trinidad and Tobago postage stamp, and the delicious looking Greek Salad we saw which had us reminiscing happily about our holidays/vacations.

As this page provides a tour around this amazing restaurant, I’m pleased to be able to join Hazel who is hosting the “Magical Mystery Tour” challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

Coco’s Soul Food is an unassuming place, which is located in the University quarter of Preston and we had previously noticed it on our way to the Chinese Supermarket and have always wanted to try it. So we went for my birthday and I have to say we were not disappointed and plan to go back again and again!The interior was so cheery, this is the ground floor and it was like sitting in a tropical paradise. There was limited seating downstairs and although I managed to get a shot between people being seated, the restaurant was very busy. They have more seating upstairs and do takeaway as well, the menu and specials board lives up to their strap-line “flavours from around the world” not only do they have Mexican, Caribbean and Greek inspired dishes they also have Cajun as well.

The food was absolutely amazing! I ordered the Tropical Mango Chilli Chicken with a side order of Sweet Potato Fries, which seem hard to come by in restaurants in the UK.

My hubby ordered a BBQ Chicken Burrito Coco Style, and in actual fact we ended up sharing these dishes as we both wanted to try them and they tasted so delicious. As T Stands for Tuesday and we had a pot of green tea with our meal, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you a Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page: